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Suggestions for High school French??


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My daughter took an assortment of French courses in high school.  One year, she did it through the IQ Academy extension in our state.  It only exists in three states, but in case you're in one of them, it may be an option.

 

It is considered a public school.  Because my dd was already enrolled in a ps class in our town (we did ps part-time some years in high school), we didn't have to pay a penny.  Another year, another dd took a class through IQ Academy, but because she was not enrolled in any ps classes, we had to pay for the course.

 

That was a few years ago, and I don't know if their policy has changed or if it varies in the different states.

 

ETA:  Oops, I meant to post this link:

 

http://iqacademy.com

 

 

 

Edited by J-rap
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Middebury is supposed to be great.

 

I have Rosetta Stone to supplement on the side. I also am using Memoria Press's program, but am not a huge fan of it. I would not use it alone. But, it does the job, it works. We are not serious in to things yet, so that may change. If he really likes it, we will do the Middlebury program.

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French is a hard one if you are trying to get 3 levels of the same language which is what many colleges require.   Rosetta Stone is a popular choice but some colleges do not accept Rosetta Stone by its self because they feel it is too light on grammar and written practice.  Many of the textbook French programs for homeschoolers are only 2 levels which is a problem if you have a school that wants 3.  We actually chose to go with a ps program called Bien Dit and then will be supplementing with Tell Me More (they were purchased by Rosetta Stone).  The other route you can look at doing is taking 1-2 community college classes in French which will satisfy the requirement for most colleges.

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We've tried several: MP's First Start French, So You Really Want to Learn French, Mango?, etc.  We've finally settled on Breaking the Barrier and its working very well.  She's also doing Tell Me More on the side.  We bought the actual books because my dd hates e-anything.  

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We've tried several: MP's First Start French, So You Really Want to Learn French, Mango?, etc.  We've finally settled on Breaking the Barrier and its working very well.  She's also doing Tell Me More on the side.  We bought the actual books because my dd hates e-anything.  

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If you're just checking boxes, it would be easiest to just do one or two more years of Latin. Latin doesn't have the oral component that is such a big part of "living languages." I guess there might be some concern about whether Latin would fulfill the FL requirement at all the colleges your dd will apply to.

 

If she just wants to check boxes with French, and there's any way she can do a community college class, as a pp mentioned, that would be the fastest, most efficient way to check the boxes since a one semester CC class can often be counted as a full year high school class. It's also much more likely to actually get over and done with. Studying a language with no background in it, without the help of someone who does have a background in it, can be very difficult, even to just check a box.

 

If a CC class isn't feasible, and if a Christian program is ok, I would use BJU's French 1 & 2 program. It has pretty much a complete program, at a fairly affordable price, especially if you get some parts used. It includes a TEd, student text, student workbook, CD's, and a supplemental DVD

 

If you need a secular program, I would use whichever of the standard public school texts you can get most affordably (Holt's Bien Dit, McDougal Littel's Discovering French, Glencoe's Bienvenue, etc.)  At the French 1 & 2 level, the content is all pretty much the same. They also have supports available... TEd, student text, TEd & student workbook, CD's, DVD's. The most cost effective way to go is to buy used, but it takes time and effort to hunt down all the matching pieces. Older editions are perfectly good, if you can find all the components you want. Other than prettier pictures, there's little difference in newer editions. (And we found that the newer editions just seem to get "noisier" and flashier.) 

 

With my older boys, I used the same text our local schools used for French 1 & 2 (Bien Dit) because I could pick up the components fairly cheaply and easily. Also, I figured if I wanted to get a local tutor, it would be easier. I have some background in French, so we didn't use a tutor until the boys hit French 3.

 

My daughter is using the BJU French 1 & 2 texts with TPS online. It would be a very easy text to teach independently, but we use the online class for various other reasons.

 

 

ETA: If your dd finds that she'd like to have a better handle on speaking French, a woman who runs a local foreign language tutoring center and who loves learning languages herself suggested Pimsleur over Rosetta Stone. Our local library had Pimsleur. We didn't use it, so I can't speak for it. Just passing along her suggestion.

Edited by yvonne
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University of Texas has a free online program, https://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/page/get-started which has video, audio, and PDFs. We used a little bit of it over the summer.

Pimsleur is actually really good. Lots of repetition of useful phrases in a short amount of time. It works better if you know some grammar because there is no explanation of it. We used it along with MP's French. Just by listening to it in the car, we finished level 1 within one month.

For MP's French, the teacher who taught it initially assigned 2 chapters per week. It's not high school level, but it's sort of like Getting Started with Spanish, it does a good job of introducing you to the language. It comes with a CD. If you do 2 chapters per week, you can finish the book quickly and then move on to a high school book. Sometimes it's better that way because French, at least for me, is difficult to look and pronounce (unlike Spanish).

For extra practice without the oral component yet contains good explanations, I like Easy French Step by Step.

But the truth is you need someone to converse with, so I suggest italki.com where you can find someone who charges about $8 per hour and actually sometimes much less (don't ask me why someone in Tunisia would just charge $5 per hour). The more expensive tutors have teaching credentials and will teach grammar. But grammar is easy, conversing is hard, so I would try to budget in an hour of conversation per week, just to check on accents and overcoming a student's fear of speaking a new language.

 

Edited by crazyforlatin
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  • 2 years later...

For BJU French 1, do you need both the CD Set and Supplemental DVD?  Just wanting to buy what I will use.  If you used both, can you tell me what the benefits of the CD were as opposed to the DVD?  Or which one did you use the most?

I like BJU, but it is on the pricey side, I hate getting curriculum and then I don't use it.  I took French in high school for 4 years, so I'm familiar with it enough to teach French 1 and 2, however I'm sure I've got an American accent!!  

 

 

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We've used a mixture of DuoLingo & RS which compliment each other nicely. If you use the Homeschool version of RS there's worksheets that can be printed out for use.. also if you opt to go that path check their FB page for GREAT discounts. We scored Levels 1-5 for $139 including international shipping which felt like a steal.

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Both my kids had great success with Breaking the Barrier French. Great preparation for college classes - we did choose to start over again with French 101 when they dual enrolled, because they were way ahead in grammar but did not get the conversational practice you would get in a live class, plus vocab taught always varies a bit. dd1 was bored and wished she had skipped at least the first class, dd2 was happy with her easy A, lol. 

There are great and reasonably priced language tutors online for speaking, but dd1 never scheduled it consistently and dd2 wanted no part of it. They did some French language meetups that were helpful and interesting (via meetups.com), basically just people getting together at the coffee shop to practice French, discuss French films and whatnot. All adults except them, but the majority of people welcomed them. 

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